Mapuche

The Mapuche, formerly known as the Araucanians, are a group of Native American inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. Their name translates to "People of the Land", and their culture originated between 600 and 500 BC. The Mapuche fought against the Inca Empire, who conquered Chile down to Santiago and the Maipo River, and the bulk of the Mapuche escaped Inca rule. In 1541, the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia reached Chile from Cuzco, Peru and founded Santiago, and, between 1550 and 1553, the Spanish founded several cities in Mapuche lands such as Concepcion, Valdivia, Imperial, Villarrica, and Angol and forts such as Arauco, Puren, and Tucapel. From 1550 to 1598, the Mapuche frequently besieged Spanish settlements in Araucania, but wars and epidemics decimated the Mapuche population, and others died in Spanish-owned gold mines. After 1598, the Mapuche launched a general uprising which destroyed several Spanish cities and massacred many of their troops, and the Mapuche warred with the Spanish (and later the Chileans) into the 19th century. During the 19th century, Chile underwent territorial expansion, establishing a colony in the Strait of Magellan in 1843 and settling Valdivia, Osonoro, and Llanquihue with German immigrants; they also conquered land from Peru and Bolivia during the War of the Pacific. Between 1861 to 1871, Chile incorporated several Mapuche territories in Araucania, and the Mapuche population dropped from 500,000 to 25,000 within a generation as a result of the occupation, famine, and disease. State education replaced traditional Mapuche education, and the Mapuche's loss of land and erosion led to them practicing a massive livestock herding in limited areas. By the 2010s, the world Mapuche population was 1,713,731, with 1,508,722 living in Chile in 2012; most of them were either Catholic or evangelical Christians, adapting these faiths to traditional beliefs.